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Letters Viewpoint writer gets failed Dear editor uvun “v. In tn; Nov. 10 edition oi The Liberal, Regional Viewpoint columnist Jim Irving, demonstrated once again his myopic View of education. . L_ L-..,.|__H kn ueul-n lllv u-Jvr.- .. In his column, “Trustees must be tough", he complained Sam Chapman, Dorothy Zajac. and “a few others“ were wasting time trying to define what the “basics" are rather than giving us “instant im- plementation“. . n . i- h',,_-L__‘ nLn‘Mn.‘ nt‘ P- ............. . He even accused Education Director Chapman of hypocrisy in “pretending“ not to know what the “basics“ are. I address myself to columnist Irving: Mr. Irving‘ if Sam Chapman is hypocritical in his approach to the problem of the “basics“, then so are thousands of intelligent educators across North America who are trying to sort out what the “basics" really are. _r .._ 1.. .0. LL.“ You complain in your column, but you don‘t at- tempt to define them. You imply, however‘ that you know. . Let‘s assume, Mr. Irving, that somehow youl learned the “basics“. ‘Iwm vsgrrgltJâ€"lmvbfiteven though I 5m a charitéble man and an easy marker, I have been forced to give you a failing _mark on your “essay" Pi; ___.‘ _‘._l.‘t.« le .J unv- If you know then please let the rest of us in on the definition It contains far too many errors to list and explain here but let me cite some of the most egregious blunders (I am adhering, of course to the “basic“ rules in marking your work ) 1) â€" “One has to be somewhat ruthless too so those long hours dont. “ -. . . n I," After allfi ydfi are a writer, and writers know all about those things, don‘t t_hey? 03‘. do Ehey? . l have maifiiéfi’fim column. Jim‘ following the “basic" rules of grammar and composition found in most standard texts in use in the “good old day-51‘. This is Dnot too serious an error, Jim but Fowler tells us that a clause of result or purpose should be introduced by “so that" not “so“. "'iéfifbiéaééd ytiuhave placed commas before and after “too" in this sentence. But why didn‘t you do it in the first sentence of the third paragraph? I -“Of course that very fact could go against them, too but that‘s the chance both they and you take?“ A printer‘s error? 2) â€" “Personally. I don‘t think it‘s the job of the high schools . . . “ This is a common error, Jim, called tautology orrneeclless repetition. n “Per§3§1§fi§°“i and “I" expreés the same idea. Or perhaps you used “Personally, I . . . “ as the op- posite of_“[r§}pers_onal{y, I . . . “? .I ,L,,,IJ .A__II.‘L. 3) â€"â€" “Public school is where they should really be drilled home.“ That‘s some sentence you have there, Jim boy! Since you were establishing a contrast between high school and public school‘ the adverb “really" Got a hun ry crowd? Feed 30. 5 . 200 or more for only Sl 75 per person. You get plates sporks serviettes serving spoons. wet towels. tablecloth. salads and three pieces of Kentucky Fried Chicken for everyone. Call the manager of your nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken store for details. Red 3 lot for a little. OVII I00 LDCAVIONS IN ON'AIIO-SEE VOUI PNONE IOOI ‘0" THE ONE NEAIES' VW Professor Ron Shephard ...charitable, easy marker @1133 chickenvimfl- Colonel Sanders' Columnist Jim Irving ...myopic view of education should have been placed before the word “where“. That‘s a minor problem. however, compared to the serious “basic“ error in your sentence. Jim, yearrs-‘agofiaidy stvudent well versed in the “basics" could have told you that you were guilty of the old “isâ€"when, isâ€"where“ error. uu: mu 1r wuui, m yum”, yum This was one of the "basic‘ errors listed by the Ontario department of education: _ 1 I, u._ Tsk! Tskl 5115;]; you know that the copula verb “to be“ cannot be followed by an adverb clause of place or time. You d3 hé-Se-firehlems with the “basic“ use of the comma, don‘t you, Jim? Your use of the comma is often referred to as the ”rabbit in the snow“ technique ._ .. .V. . ... I,,,,A:L:_- My God, Jim that s as “basic“ as you can get! By the way that makes three “basic“ errors in one short two- sentence paragraph ‘ "4“)v:-:‘â€"Iâ€"{_ivg_hrsvettgelr,lmore or less guaranteed you those dimensions. because that‘s what it was sitting there waiting to dor. . . " nu Any student of the “basics“, however, knows it is a serious punctuation error to use a comma to separate the subject of a sentence (“High school") from its predicate (“guaranteed") in this manner. L, ,,,,,, _I He nii‘ght‘fiéfi question your use of the word “dimensions“ in this sense. The metaphor of the high school “sitting there waiting" is also rather in- teresting. "-53â€":7‘3‘7‘On the other hand, let‘s hope the latter doesn't always make out that they yeed to." . VJivnnyour éoncluding sentence defies analysis. At first glance, it seems to contain one of the most “basic" errors made by students today. The “latter‘ seemsyto refer to “they’ in the previous sentence. If so, it is plural and should not be followed by the singular verb “doesn‘t". Notice is hereby given to the Municipal Electors of the Town of Vaughan that an election will be held on for the following offices: Mayor (who shall also serve as a Member of the Council of The Regional Munici- pality of York), Five Councillors (who shall serve on the Town Council only); Two Members to the York County Board of Education. To be elected by Public School Electors: and, One Member to the York County Board of Education. To represent the Municipalities of Vaughan, King, Aurora, Newmarket, Georgina, East Gwillimbury and Whit- church-Stouffville. To be elected by Sepa- rate School Electors of the said Municipali- ties. Every person shown on the Polling List of Electors for the Town of Vaughan will re- ceive a notice of the location of the polling place in which he or she is to vote. The polls will be opened for the purpose of receiving votes of the electors of the Town of Vaughan at eleven o'clock am. and shall continue open until eight o'clock pm. TOWN OF VAUGHAN for the purpose of receiving the votes of the electors of the Town of Vaughan who ex- pect to be unable to vote on polling day in the polling subdivision for which their name appears on the polling list. November 24th, 1976 THE ADVANCE POLLS WILL BE AT: TOWN OF VAUGHAN MUNICIPAL OFFICES 2141 MAJOR MACKENZIE DRIVE MAPLE, ONTARIO and will be opened at eleven o'clock am. and shal| continue open until eight o’clock SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27th, 1976 and MONDAY. NOVEMBER 29th, 1976 MONDAY, DECEMBER 6th, 1976 Advance Polls Will be Held On ADVANCE POLLS NOTICE OF POLL Clerk, Town of Vaughan, 2141 Major Mackenzie Dr Maple, Ontario. 832-2281 F.G. JACKMAN If it refers to the “old guard", it is singular. But then the corresponding pronoun in the sentence should be “it", not “they“: _ Giving you the benefit of the doubt, “they“ may refer to the “newcomers“ in the previous sentence. However, if it does . . . It gets complicated, doesn't it? In any case, your sentence is wrong: it is either grammatically in- correct or so convoluted in structure it is ambiguous and misleading. .- . . u -u, uuu u..-.v.....,_ Your errorfiim. is the kind of mistake up with which many purists will not put. u... 7,,”A5_' mvarnyp'reIIiansisréntence sounds odd. the reason is I have tried to avoid ending it with a preposition. You may not realize it, but your article ends with a prep9§iti9n. _Don‘t be silly, you say. Who cares? A.._I_- LL-L -A..- r-vr'u-rv' -. - , Well, Jim boy, one of the “basic“ rules that some people want to return to is, “Never end a sentence with a preposition“. Here I end my criticism. I could continue, Jim, pointing out other solecisms and rhetorical infelicities in your column. Ivcouâ€"ldpoint out at least tivo spelling errors, but they could be printer‘s errors, not yours. I could comment on your indiscriminate use of the dash as a punctuation device. .. n , u. ,r I could point out how you are frequently guilty of what Fowler calls “anacoluthon” switching from one syntax track to another in the middle of a senâ€" tence. But what‘s the use? It‘s a futile exercise, isn‘t it? There is no doubt we must put more emphasis on the “basics”, Jim. Students certainly need help with “basic" skills For that matter, so do you and l. 1 U1 unal. Iuauu , cu uv guy. .4...“ - But lets realize this is a very complex problem, and not rush in with simplistic solutions that will result in the kind of 18th century prescriptivism exemplified in my grammatical analysis of your column. WSam Chapman knows we must define the “basics" clearly before we can start teaching them. I know that. 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